Witness Intimidation (Hansard, 15 March 1993)

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many proceedings have been brought for witness intimidation in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

§ Mr. Jack
It is not possible from the information held centrally to identify offences of interference with witness from other common law offences of "attempting to pervert the course of public justice".
The table shows the number of prosecutions in England and Wales from 1987 to 1991 for attempting to pervert the course of public justice; 1992 data will not be available until autumn 1993.

Number of prosecutions at magistrates' courts for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of public justice¹ under common law for the years 1987 to 1991 (England and Wales)

Year Prosecutions

1987 652

1988 864

1989 1,139

1990 1,376

1991 1,565

¹Under common law the offence of "attempting to pervert the course of public justice" includes fabrication of false evidence, causing person to be wrongly convicted and interference with witness etc.

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the number of cases of violence against the person which collapsed because of witness intimidation in each of the last five years.

§ Mr. Jack
I regret that this information is not available.

Number of prosecutions at magistrates' courts for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of public justice¹ under common law for the years 1987 to 1991 (England and Wales)
Year	Prosecutions
1987	652
1988	864
1989	1,139
1990	1,376
1991	1,565
¹Under common law the offence of "attempting to pervert the course of public justice" includes fabrication of false evidence, causing person to be wrongly convicted and interference with witness etc.